Computers and other electronic systems commonly have “slots” into which various plug-in cards may be inserted to add functionality to the electronic systems. The plug-in cards generally have an edge card connector that plugs into a slot connector installed in the electronic system. All of the slot connectors are fixedly mounted either onto a system I/O (input/output) board or onto a riser board, which is plugged into the system I/O board.
The edge card connectors and slot connectors are designed according to various slot standards developed within relevant industries. Each slot standard generally specifies physical dimensions of the connectors and electrical signal parameters for communication across the connectors, among other criteria.
Unless specifically made to be “backwardly” compatible with earlier related standards, plug-in cards and slot connectors made according to one standard cannot be used with plug-in cards and slot connectors made according to another standard. Physical space specifications and signal timing requirements, among other features, may be quite different between different standards.
Each newly developed slot standard is generally designed to provide a variety of “improvements” over previous slot standards. For instance, a new slot standard may be developed for plug-in cards and slot connectors to take up less space than those for other standards. Another slot standard may be developed for higher communication speeds or bandwidths than those available for previous standards.